Given the success of all three of those other recipes, I somehow still doubted that apples and pasta made sense together.

I could not have been more wrong. It’s like all three of those other dishes threw a party for Mark Bittman in my oven and, 15 minutes later, this beautiful, bubbling winter feast popped out. The resulting dish is one that combines the best qualities of all three of the others: it’s a hot, healthy, and complete meal full of fresh produce, with a light, creamy sauce, topped with toasted pecans and a squeeze of lemon. This scrumptious dish has landed permanently on my roster of all-star dinners.

If you’re a fan of blue cheese, Brussels sprouts, apples and pasta individually, I promise you’ll love them combined. Please try this one. Perhaps for dinner, maybe tonight? Definitely make it before the weather heats up and Brussels sprouts and apples completely fall out of season (sniffle).

The technique here could not be more simple: boil water, chop some vegetables and fruit, toss pasta into the pot and, a few minutes later, toss in the sprouts. Drain, mix in some cheese, chopped apples, and a splash of oil and cooking water, bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, and top with pecans and a squeeze of lemon. Dinner is served!

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook it halfway through (start checking after 3 minutes; it should still be quite firm inside). Add the Brussels sprouts to the pot and cook, until the pasta and vegetables are just barely tender, another 3 minutes. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water, and return the pasta and Brussels sprouts to the pot.

Stir in the gorgonzola cheese, apples, olive oil, and a splash of the cooking water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss, and taste and adjust the seasoning. Pour the pasta mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with a little bit more Gorgonzola cheese.

Bake, checking once or twice and adding a bit more of the cooking water if the pasta looks too dry, until the mixture is bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes (mine took 20). Sprinkle lemon juice over the dish and garnish it with chopped, toasted pecans.

What’s funny is I didn’t even think twice until I had my filling done and then I thought, “huh… I don’t think I’ve ever put fruit in pasta before. This could be bad.” But the combination turned out great! Next time I think I’ll use apples- looks delicious!

I can’t figure out why I was so apprehensive about adding apples to pasta. Especially considering that I know apples pair well with Brussels sprouts, and Gorgonzola/pecans/apples is such a winning combination!

Thanks for your sweet comments, Sara! I really just eat what I want, which is rarely meat, and I cook vegetarian at home. No, I haven’t read The China Study yet, but I got it for Christmas and it’s in my pile of books to read. Can’t wait!

Something nutty like Asiago might go well. I have made a recipe from Giada D (food network) that has Brussels sprouts, onions, mushrooms, lemon, and slivered almonds on pasta that is great with Asiago.

Seriously yummy!! I made this dish for a dinner party last night, everyone loved it! Including me! :) I can’t wait to make it again and try the different variations. I went with your adaptation of the recipe and made a few changes (some intentional, some by mistake!):
– I used organic fuji apples (fuji and gala have a similar flavor, but i always prefer the crisp texture of fuji, though it may not matter as much when baking the apple)
– whole wheat shells (couldn’t find your recommended snail pasta)
– toasted almonds instead of pecans–this was by accident. I burnt all the pecans I had. :( A happy mistake however! The almonds gave an excellent flavor!! And the nuts are no afterthought in this recipe! They make for the perfect bite! I even added extra to my plate :)
– I used closer to a pound and a half of brussel sprouts – rather than 1 pound
– I didn’t use any olive oil! (besides greasing the pan) I just realized this the day after. I totally forgot/missed this step when combining all the ingredients in the pot before transferring to the baking pan.
– I also didn’t use any salt and pepper (besides about 1 tsp of salt in the pasta water). Oops! Also an oversight. I was very distracted–it’s stressful hosting a dinner party :/ But i swear it still tasted awesome!!
– My pan was a rectangle, just smaller than 9×13.

I hope to make this again very soon (I think Alex hopes the same) :) Thanks for this yummy recipe!!

Hello Kate,
I am always looking for recipies that can be prepared ahead of time and then popped into the oven right before guests arrive. Do you think this work work, if stored in the refrigerator for a few hours ? What about overnight ?
Thanks so much. . .

Great question, Elizabeth. I want to say it would work but I haven’t tried it myself. I suspect it would be fine for a few hours, but I would wait to chop the apples until you’re ready to bake it. Then stir them in and top with some extra cheese. Again, just guessing here, sorry!

Thanks, Molly! That’s a tough question. It’s so full of produce that I ate it as a complete meal myself. Maybe a basic spinach salad with parmesan shavings and a lemony dressing would go well with it, but I don’t have a recipe for that. Some cookies for dessert? I have recipes for spicy molasses cookies and pumpkin cookies, both would be good for this time of year.

I guess I’m weird because I didn’t think twice about putting apples in pasta! This was super great of a dish. I went way overboard on the blue cheese (and it turned out wonderful) and saved the olive oil to drizzle over the top. Super yum! Thanks.

I’m vegetarian as long as it doesn’t inconvenience other people, but my husband has a different philosophy. Every so often he feels that he is, in fact, inconvenienced by this and begs for meat. This happened just as I was planning to make this dish, so instead of adding pecans I tossed in bacon. Just for the record, it’s great! I highly recommend it to anyone else who also needs to keep peace with meat lovers :)

Thank you for commenting, Carolyn! I do enjoy a slice of bacon on occasion and I bet it was totally delicious in this dish. Being single definitely makes it easier for me to eat an almost entirely vegetarian diet (plus, meat is expensive!). Glad your husband enjoyed this mostly vegetarian meal. :)

Hi Michelle, I think the leftovers hold up well, especially if you’re serving them chilled or at room temperature. Keep in mind that if you reheat them, the cheese will melt all over and won’t look quite as pretty. I think it will still taste great, though!

I found this recipe when I had brussel sprouts, apples, and a piece of questionable blue cheese I had to use up, and I figured it probably wouldn’t be very good (apples in pasta?) but it’d probably be the only recipe I’d find hitting all those ingredients. I was so, so wrong. It was DELICIOUS. Seriously amazing! And I don’t even like blue cheese! You are clearly a genius and I’ve now signed up for your mailing list. :)

This was totally delicious! I used Danish Blue cheese, simply because that’s what I had in the fridge, and I toasted some cashews instead of pecans, again just because that’s what I had available. Next time I make it – and I will definitely make it again – I’ll try a Granny Smith apple for some extra tartness. The leftovers made a lovely cold lunch the next day.

We made this meal and it was delicious! I felt though that the leftovers aren’t quite as good as it is hot out of the oven. It might be interesting to try with some other tangy cheeses as well, like Havarti… Just a thought. Thank you Kate! We have a new healthy pasta go to.